Summary

Nagorno-Karabakh is claimed by Azerbaijan but under the control of a breakaway governing authority that is not recognized by any United Nations (UN) member state. It is not eligible to accede to, or attend meetings of, the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Nagorno-Karabakh officials have denied the area possesses or uses cluster munitions, but there is evidence that Armenia and/or Nagorno-Karabakh forces backed by Armenia used cluster munitions in the conflict over the area in 2020.

Policy

Nagorno-Karabakh is claimed by Azerbaijan but since 1991 has been under the control of a breakaway governing authority that is not recognized by any UN member state.[1] Thus, it is not eligible to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Vasiliy Atajanyan expressed support for the ban on cluster munitions in May 2012 and said, “the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is not in a position to join the Convention, in view of the fact the conflict with Azerbaijan is not yet resolved.”[2]

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Nagorno-Karabakh’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Karen Mirzoyan provided a statement in May 2017 that states the “Republic Artsakh [the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic] does not possess cluster munitions and there has been no use, production or transfer of cluster munitions on the territory of the Republic.”[3] Previously, in May 2012, the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Atajanyan stated that “the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic does not produce, export, stockpile or use cluster munitions and does not intend to do so.”

Use

Two types of ground-launched cluster munition rockets were used in multiple locations in Nagorno-Karabakh during the armed conflict that took place in September–November 2020. There is no complete accounting of the use of cluster munitions in the conflict as it has not been possible to investigate every reported or alleged attack. However, there is compelling evidence that Azerbaijan fired cluster munitions into the city of Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh’s administrative center (called Khankendi in Azerbaijan) and other locations, while Armenian forces and/or Nagorno-Karabakh forces supported by Armenia launched at least four attacks using cluster munitions from Nagorno-Karabakh, which caused deaths and injuries in Azerbaijan.[4]

Azerbaijani forces fired Israeli-made LAR-160 cluster munition rockets, which each contain 104 M095 DPICM submunitions, into Stepanakert on 27 September and 3–4 October. Another series of cluster munition attacks hit the public hospital in the town of Martakert on 14 October.[5] Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented remnants of the rockets, impacts, and remnants of submunitions that exploded, as well as dud submunitions that failed to function at several locations in Stepanakert. HRW also examined photographs taken in the town of Hadrut of a rocket, impacts, and remnants of submunitions that exploded, and a dud submunition that failed to explode.[6] Additionally, the Washington Post reported in December 2020 that more than 30 unexploded M095 submunitions were cleared and destroyed from a home in Kaghartsi Village, 25km east of Stepanakert.[7]

Azerbaijan denied any use of cluster munitions by their forces in Nagorno-Karabakh and counter claimed that Armenian forces used them.[8] In a statement to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 25 November 2020, Armenia did not deny possessing or using cluster munitions, but rather drew attention to Azerbaijan’s use of cluster munitions in October 2020.[9]

Previous use

There is evidence that at least two types of ground-fired cluster munition rockets were used in Nagorno-Karabakh in the first week of April 2016, during fighting across the line of contact separating local Armenian-backed separatists and Azerbaijani forces. In May 2017, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nagorno-Karabakh provided to the Monitor with evidence of cluster munition use on its territory in April 2016, stating: “During the 4-day aggression against Republic of Artsakh in April 2016, Azerbaijan has employed two types of ground-launched cluster munition rockets (LAR 160 and Smerch) in the north of the Republic (Martakert region) and in the southeast (Hadrut region).”[10]

Cluster Munition Monitor was not able to conduct an independent investigation to make a conclusive determination about responsibility for this cluster munition use.

There is RBK-series cluster bomb contamination in Nagorno-Karabakh dating from the 1988–1994 conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. In June 2016, HALO destroyed an unexploded PTAB-1M submunition found by a farmer on agricultural land near the village of Mugalny.[11] There are also reports of cluster munition contamination in other parts of occupied Azerbaijan, adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh, which are under the control of Armenian forces.[12]

(See the separate profiles on Armenia and Azerbaijan.)